May The Best Man Win, a tokyo mew mew fanfic

May The Best Man Win

By Laura Schiller

Based on: Tokyo Mew Mew

Here we go again. Strike for strike, blood for blood. We bounce off the ground and the hoods of cars, hair flying, swords flashing; a blur of green and yellow, blue and gray. I know that look on your face by now as well as anyone – yellow eyes narrowed to slits, fangs bared, a flush of fury on your pallid skin – and I hate it. I want to slash that insane, bloodthirsty look away with my sword, just like Ichigo did once with her cat claws. I want to see you crumple to the ground like an old newspaper in the rain, erase yourself, disappear. I want you never to put fear into Ichigo's eyes again.

What I hate the most about you, Kish, is that I know you. I understand you better than you realize. I have sometimes believed, just as your people do, that considering the sins of the human race – greenhouse gases, holocausts, nuclear weapons – it would be no great hardship for the Earth to be rid of it. And sometimes I believe that if Ichigo ever treated me as she treats you – if her sweet gray eyes looked at me with contempt; if she kicked and scratched me for touching her; in short, if she didn't love me – I might very well lose my mind as you are obviously doing.

It was Ichigo who gave me faith in humanity – this ordinary girl, with neither talent nor ambition to her advantage, who gives her life to defend her home and people simply because she loves them. It's the power of that love which draws me to her; love for her parents, her friends, her fellow Mews and their mentors, and yes, her love for me.

And you've seen it too, haven't you, Kish, for all your perversions? You spy on our dates, you watch us in battle. You must have noticed the way her eyes light up when she looks at me; noticed her passionate, wholehearted defense whenever I'm in danger. She would do anything for the one she loves. You want that for yourself, I know. You want to posess her love like a jewel, like a drop of live-giving Mew Aqua. As if you could.

You see, as similar as we are, you and I, there is something you still don't understand. How many blows will it take to hammer it into your thick skull? Ichigo is mine, you say. I could tell you the same thing, and be justified – after all, she is my girlfriend – but we would both be mistaken. Ichigo belongs to no one but herself.

I thank the gods every day that she chose me, and abides by her choice like the loyal, loving, magnificent girl she is. But if she ever were to choose someone else, I hope … I believe … I know I would stand aside and let her be happy.

So give it up, Kish. Don't keep trying to force from her what she will not give. Because as long as her heart calls for me, I will protect her by any means necessary.

The game is on. May the best man win.